I often write about new tasting rooms or new wineries opening and about new events or new wines being released. This week I am excited to write about an older, well established winery with a new owner who is making some small but very significant changes that translate into a top notch, new wine tasting experience for you!
The winery is Palotai Vineyard and the new owner is John Olson. John along with his wife Joy and their three children moved here from Southern California to find what all of us who moved here from somewhere else came here for, - the natural unspoiled beauty and the slower more meaningful pace of life. The winery life style appealed to John and Joy and they have easily acclimated to all that comes with it. They, like so many other winery owners here in the Umpqua Valley, have made their winery business a family affair with the kids helping out with bottling, labeling and anything else that needs to be done.

For anyone walking into Palotai winery, it looks and feels exactly like it always has, very rustic with a cozy European feel to it. But as you meet John and start your tasting, the small, meaningful changes of the new Palotai begin to become clear. First off, the wine glasses are so much better for tasting. They are bigger and more appropriate for getting your nose into the glass and getting the most out of each wine. Then there is John himself. He has such a happy, positive, upbeat energy which oozes out of him and is completely contagious. He has a great smile and a terrific sense of humor and it is obvious he brings a true generous spirit to everything he does. He explains he wants Palotai to be a place where people come to taste wine in a very relaxed, unpretentious atmosphere. John’s whole demeanor allows for exactly that.

For me what is most notable about the “new” Palotai are the wines. ( For me it is always about the wines!) I have been fortunate enough to taste these wines on a very regular basis over the past two years. I have kept up on the wines in the barrel as well as those in the bottle. And what has become clear to me in the past year is how John has embraced the rustic style that is synonymous with the name Palotai but has finessed the wines to allow for a more elegant component missing from the wines just two years ago. The wines still have the boldness we have come to expect from Palotai wines but they now offer the smoother finishes and softer mouth feel that comes with more care and consideration. A new attention to balance is obvious and the new releases posses a refinement not previously found. These wines are finding a new audience and the limited case productions move quickly.

If you have not yet had the treat of tasting Palotai wines, now is the time. If you have already visited, you need to go back again and rediscover this diamond in the rough! Red lovers will be in heaven with the Pinot, Syrah, Bulls Blood and the Atila, and white wine lovers will go crazy over the Bella Bianca, Chardonnay and the Riesling! See you there!